Watching beginners play
is often very painful.
You can't even count the
mistakes they're making
and there are plenty of
leaks in their game.
Fortunately, most of
them make common
beginners' mistakes. And
here they are:

1. He's playing too
many hands.
Beginners are playing
too loosely. Of course,
there are some players
who are afraid of
playing hands at all
because they want to
avoid making mistakes
and looking like a fool.
Those players should
search for another game.
Most of the beginners
don't care about
starting hand
requirements and play
almost every hand that
looks good to them.
By selecting the right
hands before the flop,
the decisions become
quite simple, especially
after the flop. Either
you hit or not.
Situations in which
you're not sure if your
hand is good or if it
isn't are rare.
Supposing, you're
playing AK and hit the
ace on the flop. For
sure, you probably have
the best hand and should
defend it. And if you
play AK, miss the flop
completely and someone
bets out, you can be
sure you're beaten. The
big problem with playing
hands that are too weak
is that the decisions
after the flop become
very tough. For example
you think A4 is a
playable hand and call a
raise before the flop.
The flop is A8T and you
might be ahead against
KK, JJ KQ or something
like that but you might
be far behind against an
ace with a better kicker
like AJ or A9. If your
opponent bets, you're in
a tough situation. You
can avoid this ugly
situation by playing
quality hands.

2. He's playing
too passively
All the great players
out there have something
in common: They're
playing aggressively –
raising or folding, but
do rarely call bets and
raises. If you raise,
there are two ways to
win a hand. Either your
opponent folds or your
opponent calls, but you
might get a better hand
with the next cards. If
you're playing your good
hands exactly like your
weak hands, you are hard
to read and your
opponents can't figure
out if you got a good or
just a junk hand.
Beginners call too often
and don't even consider
raising with drawing or
even recognize good made
hands. Firstly, they're
often paying a wrong
price to see a showdown
or the next cards.
Secondly, they don't
extract much value out
of their made hands.
However, this doesn't
mean that you should
raise with every hand
you play and in every
situation after the
flop. This would cost
you even more chips. But
you should definitely
learn to fold and raise.
A call should be your
last option. You have to
pick up your spots to
raise. This is a
question of experience
and knowledge.

3. He doesn't care
about pot odds
Pot odds are very
important! If you want
to become a successful
player you have to pay
attention to them all
the time. A beginner,
however, doesn't even
know what pot odds are.
He calls a bet with
almost every draw
because he might hit it
with the next card. The
pot odds determine your
expected value (EV) and
thus your profit. If you
don't care about them
you are likely lose all
your money in the long
term.

4. He doesn't care
about positions
Beginners sit at the
table; good players are
sitting in an early,
middle or late position.
They know how important
the position is and how
to adjust to the
positions. A beginner
knows perhaps that he’s
sitting in the big blind
because he posted some
chips before getting any
cards, but that's pretty
much it. He doesn't pay
attention to whether
he's in a position after
the flop or not. Not
having position is a
huge disadvantage you
should avoid and having
a position is a great
advantage you should
benefit from.

5. He doesn't
pay attention
In order to become a
successful player you
have to pay attention to
what's going on at the
table. You must know who
just suffered a bad
round and might be on
tilt. You must know
where the fishes, rocks,
maniacs and sharks are.
You must acquire some
betting patterns and
habits. You must pay
attention to everything
going on at the table.

6. He can't
figure out if he's
beaten
Beginners lose much of
their stack by paying
out better hands too
often. Sometimes they
think they're beaten but
call anyways just to be
sure and see the
opponents’ cards. Or
they don't interpret the
action rightly, thus
overvaluing the strength
of their hand.

If you think you're
defeated you should fold
and save the money. It
takes some time and
practice to define the
strength of your hand
correctly. Always pay
attention to your
opponent’s actions and
try to find out what
those mean. If you see
him betting and betting,
even top pair top kicker
won’t usually be good
enough.

7. He can't control
the pot
Most of the beginners
think in black and
white. Either they have
a good hand or a bad
one. If they think their
hand is good, they're
betting and betting and
betting. Usually, this
gets very expensive.
They blow a pot with
mediocre hands just to
find out that the
opponent is holding the
nuts.